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The Lockerbie bomber has been paraded on Libyan TV almost two years after his release from a UK prison because he was dying of cancer.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, 59, has been feted as a hero in his home country since he was released from jail in 2009 ‘on compassionate grounds’.

The Libyan national was convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board the New York-bound Boeing 747, and 11 people in Lockerbie.

Outrageous: Megrahi, left, was handed a minimum term of 27 years in jail for the attack, but served less than seven and a half years

The Scottish government released Megrahi after judging that he had only three months to live. His longevity has been a source of embarrassment to the Holyrood administration ever since.

At a televised rally of members of Megrahi’s tribe last night, a Libyan TV presenter claimed that ‘half of the world conspired against’ the bomber. In the broadcast, which will cause further anguish to victims’ families, the convicted terrorist was seen in a wheelchair.

American Susan Cohen, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora was killed in the atrocity, last night said: ‘This is no surprise, it was inevitable. It was obvious at the time that the man wasn’t anywhere near death.

‘But still, hearing about this, I feel anger and outrage. Sending him home was a disastrous policy.’

Megrahi was handed a minimum term of 27 years in jail for the attack, but served less than seven and a half years.

In 2009, Gordon Brown insisted the British Government had ‘no role’ in his release, which he claimed was a Holyrood decision. But the then-prime minister came under pressure almost immediately from shocking claims that the release was linked explicitly to trade deals benefiting Britain.

Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif said Megrahi’s case was discussed at every meeting between the previous prime minister Tony Blair and the Libyan leader.

And the Labour government’s anxiety that Libya would be upset if Megrahi died in jail was laid bare by Foreign Office memos released earlier this year.

Paraded: Megrahi was seen on Libyan state television in a wheelchair at a rally

The TV appearance comes just two weeks after dramatic U.S. plans to snatch the convicted terrorist from his luxurious Tripoli villa and force him to face justice in America, were revealed.

The mission would involve Megrahi being detained by opposition troops and then handed over to U.S. special forces.

President Obama has reportedly told the Libyan rebels, through intermediaries, that handing over Megrahi is a condition of his support for their battle against Gaddafi. At a White House meeting with David Cameron last summer, Mr Obama described Megrahi’s release as ‘heartbreaking’.

He added: ‘I think all of us here were surprised, disappointed and angry about the release of the Lockerbie bomber.’

Megrahi is understood to be no longer undergoing chemotherapy, instead receiving round-the-clock care at his luxury villa in Tripoli.dailymail.co.uk